American biathlonist Lowell Bailey took up arms against the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which allegedly forces all athletes to come to the World Cup in Tyumen. According to him, many athletes do not want to compete in Russia because of its aggressive foreign policy and problems with doping, but IBU President Anders Besseberg insists on the opposite. "I know about many other countries that want to boycott this stage. People need to understand that the IBU has a lot of power, they force biathletes to go to Russia, "NRK. Bailey stressed that the organization does not listen to the opinion of athletes and ignore the statements of the federations.

At the same time, the American is confident that the time has come for the new leadership. In turn, Besseberg argues that so far only the Canadian team has announced a boycott of the competition, so all charges against him are false.

Norwegian biathlete Johannes Be believes that in Russia there can be no problems with the safety of doping tests. He added that the policy does not apply to sport at all. Biathlon World Cup in Tyumen will be held from 22 to 25 March 2018.